Crystal Tomb (Starfire Angels: Dark Angel Chronicles Book 3) (24 page)

"I don't know if you can
hear me, but please come back, Raea."

Josh.

[You know what must be
done.]

Yes, but she didn't like it. Of
course, if she ended up dying at the hands of the Risaal, she
wouldn't live on in suffering.

[You're stronger than
that.]

Whatever.

"I'm here for you. I've
always cared for you…You've always been more than a friend to
me."

Josh?

Had she just heard what she thought
she heard? She'd suspected on occasion but blew it off. Hearing it
now choked her on the tangle of emotions. She'd never seen Josh as
more than a friend, but he'd been the best friend anyone could ask
for. Why couldn't fate have made her fall for Josh? She wouldn't be
grieving for Elis.

Lazarus

Dreams and whispers floated through
his mind, memories obscured by the unconscious desires and fears
and transformed in places into hideous shadowy creatures. They
reached for him, their flat faces rippling like the grass in the
wind. Mouths opened to blue-black teeth resembling
spikes.

He gasped, but a crushing feeling on
his chest stopped him. The struggle for air caused an ache which
chased away the remnants of dreams.

Elis opened his eyes to a faint glow
around him and a distorted face from his nightmares staring down.
In seconds, it transformed into the human woman he'd seen in the
chamber with the monolith.

Something caught in his throat and he
gagged. Crystal fire! He couldn't move, except to lift his hands,
but something blocked him. Solid but clear. Panic swept through him
and he struggled to pull out whatever they had shoved down his
throat. What had they done to him?

Ahben depths! He wanted to vomit with
each slip of the tube but continued to pull it out. The gagging
sensation had to end.

Cool air rushed over him as the clear
case lifted away.

"Stop. Stop. You mustn't." Hands
fumbled with his, but the end of the tube ended the
trouble.

Damn. The gag reflex took over and he
rolled aside, coughing and gagging amid the pain in his chest. It
hurt too much. Damn, it hurt.

Elis quit coughing and lay back,
trying to catch his breath without inhaling too deeply.

"Easy. Yes, it will hurt. You're still
healing…" The woman leaned over him, her face highlighted by the
low light, revealing triple-pointed pupils. "Amazing."

Whatever she thought was amazing could
wait. He hurt. He was out of breath. And he was obviously still a
prisoner of the Risaal, although his hands were still
free.

"Your healing abilities are
remarkable." She held a device over his chest which he could only
guess was a medical scanner, her eyes widening. "How is this
possible?"

Let her wonder. In his discomfort,
Elis let out a groan and closed his eyes. Obviously, she was a
medic of some kind. That's all he needed. They were interested in
keeping him alive. Him, but what about Raea? His heart gave a
shudder. "Whe—where's Raea?" His voice croaked.

"The female? She escaped.
No matter.
Kan Rikku
Nakor Surik will send for her if he feels you are inadequate."
She said that as if it were no more than a distraction.

No surprise there. She seemed
fascinated by his bare chest.

His chest hurt.

Their escape rushed to the forefront
of his mind. No. He'd been shot.

Elis lifted his head as far as he
could amid the pain and lifted one hand to touch it, his muscles
trembling with weakness. A gel of some kind covered the bloody
wound. What had they done to him?

"Leave it. The
jola
aids the regeneration
of tissue."

Fine with him. He lowered his head and
hand, wincing at the pain. "How long?"

"To heal? A few more days at most. As
I said, your healing abilities are remarkable. I've never seen
anything like it."

Because of Raea. She had healed him;
he'd felt it before he passed out.

One question popped into his head at
that thought. "How long…was I out?"

She stood back and tapped a few keys
on her scanner. "Two days."

That explained the weakness. Two days
without food or water, but they'd kept him strong enough to survive
the healing process. He might have died if left only to the
Starfire's healing; he'd been shot in the chest, close to piercing
his heart. The fact that they'd stuck a tube down his throat to
help him breathe meant he'd been on the verge of death without
mechanical intervention. Strange how the Risaal seemed to
understand the Inari body. Where had they gained their
knowledge?

"Your vital signs are good; not great,
but good. You're going to live." Her lips slipped into a frown
while she stared at the scanner. "You need to gain strength. You're
not ready yet. We're not ready."

They
weren't ready? For what? They were the ones who wanted him
alive to translate the monolith. Their leader wanted that as soon
as possible.

"Nevermind. Rest. I'll send someone
with food and check back later." She disappeared into the darkness,
the door clicking behind her.

Alone, Elis noticed the soft padding
beneath his wings and the darkness beyond the pod in which he
rested. She'd left it open when she left, but the medic must have
realized he had no strength to try to escape. With the wound deep
and painful, it would be a while before he could move, much less
fight.

He lifted his hands again, testing his
strength, but they trembled with weakness and he dropped his arms
to his sides. He needed food to regain his strength now and to heal
faster.

In some ways he was glad to stay. The
monolith held a secret. Of that he was certain. But what? Why would
they have covered metal with stone, except to blend it with the
level of human development twelve thousand years ago, when few
human cultures had advanced beyond the Stone Age? What was
important enough to hide?

Aside from that, he missed Raea. At
least she had escaped. In that he found some comfort, but it might
be short-lived and he wished she was there with him.

A worse thought sickened his stomach.
What if the Shirukan came for her while he was stuck there? She
would have no one to protect her. She would have to defend
herself.

He'd sworn never to let it happen, but
he'd failed, again. He wasn't worthy to be her mate if he couldn't
keep her safe. How could she love a failure like him? Maybe she'd
been right to ignore him for nearly two years. Maybe she would be
better off without him.

While he had saved her, if only
temporarily, from the Risaal, whatever happened while he was a
prisoner was out of his control. He wouldn't allow it.

He couldn't stay, ancient monument or
not. When he was ready, he had to escape and return to
her.

Hopefully the Shirukan wouldn't return
to her before he did.

* * *

Twenty-six. Out of a full crew of over
two thousand, only twenty-six remained.

Kalas gazed up at the array of stars
appearing in the darkening sky. None of them was home. Ch'tor was
in another galaxy across the universe.

Finding the
D'Nuvar
was their goal,
its power sufficient for a journey home, but after twelve thousand
years, what would their world be like?

The question plagued him, cracking
through his plans to dethrone the Nakor. For all he knew, the Nakor
were long gone, replaced by another clan, or perhaps the clans had
found peace.

Their world might be destroyed for
that matter.

No. It would be there. The Risaal were
strong. They just had to find a way to return.

One way or another, he
would succeed. He would reclaim the
D'Nuvar,
and he would punish the Inari
for the trouble they had caused. They would return home victorious
after all that time, legends to their people.

The rustle of movement through the
grass froze him on instinct. He'd already camouflaged himself to
his surroundings. Freezing came easy for the Risaal. Breathing came
through a different system than humans or Inari so that their sides
never moved while inhaling or exhaling.

{"
Rikku
Ronur Kalas."} The voice came as
a whisper.

Lorel.

He turned to face her and she stopped,
her human form standing out from the shadows of the trees behind
her.

{"The Inari is awake."}

{"Already? But you said—"}

{"I know. I was monitoring him when he
regained consciousness, but he is in too much pain to move. He
won't be translating anything yet."}

Then he wasn't a
threat…yet.

{"Have you informed Nakor
Surik?"}

The skin along her neck broke apart,
darkening in the encroaching night. {"I came to you
first."}

Proof of her loyalty.
Perfect. {"You did well. I'll see him now."} He would send another
to replace him as the guard. To avoid suspicions by Nakor Surik,
he'd have to report this, but after
he
questioned the Inari.

Lorel followed him through the door of
the building and down the stairs into the underground installation.
After ordering the first guard he encountered to take surface duty,
he continued to the room where the two functioning health pods were
connected.

Behind Lorel, the door
clicked shut. Kalas stopped at the side of the open pod where the
Inari male lay with his hands on his abdomen, away from the
shrinking area of
jola
gel. Black wings tucked close beside him. Open and free to
move, yet he lay quietly. {"You left him free?"} Anger rose through
him at her incompetence.

{"He is too weak to sit
up."}

Yes, he supposed the Inari
was too weak. At least he had stayed there in the minutes he was
alone. That didn't excuse Lorel's foolishness, though. Until he
held the
D'Nuvar
in
his own hands, Kalas was—all of them were—subject to Nakor Surik's
punishment. The numbers might work against the Nakor, but the
others weren't ready to move against the dominant clan
yet.

He needed Lorel for that. Her
punishment would come after he gained command.

For that, he needed answers from the
Inari. "Wake up."

The Inari opened his eyes and looked
up but said nothing.

"How did you escape?" The guards who
survived had reported the killing shots had come from the Inari's
hands. "Tell me how you fired on us without weapons."

The corner of Elis's lip twitched into
an almost smirk but twisted into a grimace before Kalas could be
sure. Elis lifted a hand and the marks glowed. Kalas stepped back,
but the Inari dropped his hand again, his face pinching in pain as
the glow faded.

"Starfire…in us can be used." Elis's
voice cracked and he swallowed. "I need water."

"You withheld this information to use
it against us."

Silence, but a smirk definitely
crooked up the Inari's lips. He knew it, a secret
weapon.

"Your species blended with the
crystal?"

Elis let out a heavy breath and closed
his eyes. "May I have water and food?"

"Not until you answer my
questions." If the Inari wanted something so badly, he could suffer
until Kalas had what
he
wanted.

"I can't—" He coughed and swallowed.
"I can't speak."

From the sounds of it, the Inari spoke
the truth. That didn't excuse him, though. Kalas wanted answers
before Nakor Surik had a chance to learn what he wanted.

{"Bring him some water."}

The door opened behind him, the light
from the corridor shining in until Lorel closed it again. Kalas's
eyes never left the Inari, despite the peaceful
appearance.

"What do the marks mean?"

"Keeper."

"Keeper? What Keeper?"

"Protector of the
Starfire."

Protector. The humans called
themselves protectors too, but they had no marks.

No, that wasn't true. They had marks,
but theirs were artificial—tattoos of an Inari symbol. How were
they connected? "What do you know of the 'protectors'?"

* * *

Elis swore his heart stopped. The
protectors. How did the Risaal know about them, unless…

It couldn't be! Were they the ones
snatching the protectors of the Eye? Impossible. The Risaal must
have meant his description of Keepers as protectors.

"What do your marks mean? What are
Keepers?" The Risaal stared at him, the light from the pad on which
Elis laid giving the Risaal features a grotesque
appearance.

Damn, his throat was parched. Elis
tried swallowing to moisten it again, but talking dried it. How
could he keep this simple so the Risaal quit harassing him and
brought him water?